What This Man Is Doing For His Ex-Girlfriend Isn't Romantic... It's Creepy

His name is Luke Howard, and he's a 34-year-old pianist currently tinkling the ivories at College Green, a public square in Bristol in the UK. He's been playing for more than 24 hours, and has vowed to continue crooning until his ex-girlfriend takes him back.

Howard's idea, according to the Bristol Post, was to create a bit of a viral media storm so that his ex - who he refused to name but called Rapunzel - would "know just how much I love her." Howard and his Rapunzel were in a relationship for four months.

Photo: The Bristol PostSource:Whimn

"It wasn’t anything nasty or bad, it was just life getting in the way," he assured the Bristol Post. "If it was anything bad why we split up then I wouldn’t be doing this, but it’s the only thing I can think of doing."

Ask and you shall receive, Bristol Piano Man. Because Howard did go viral, but maybe not for the reasons he was hoping for. Rather than praising what he believed was a grand romantic gesture, Twitter uses condemned him for his "creepy" and stalker-esque behaviour.

Men, women are allowed to leave you. You are not entitled to a girlfriend.Media, stop romanticising controlling, stalker behaviour. https://t.co/qN3g0fa9DQ

Not okay, mate. If she broke up with you it was probably for a good reason, and you need to respect that.

But something occurred to us while reading this tragi-comic tale of Shakespearean proportions. This isn't the first time we've seen Bristol's strange and wacky characters pop up in the headlines this week.

The poor girl who was caught flinging her poo out the window of her Tinder date's bathroom was also from the British city. What a hotspot.

So Bristol has the poo-flinging woman and that creep playing piano. City of Romance, this one.